Fertilize Lawn in August – Seriously

Today, I did the unthinkable, I fertilized again in August. Every night for the past 4-5 nights, we have received rain in the Omaha area. Saturday night we received 2 inches of rain. The wet conditions are quickly taking the good nutrients out of the lawn.

As a result, I am seeing a lot of yellowish/green grass spots. The nitrogen is completely gone. Many neighbors are watering like crazy, but it is not making their lawns greener because the nutrients are gone. This condition is also causing some thinning of yards and as a result grubs are really feasting on these ripe conditions.

If you want your lawn to look greener, you need to feed it more nutrients. Start with a good nitrogen application. If you are not sure how much to apply, 16, 18 or 30, consider testing your lawn soil to see what nutrients are in your soil.

If you prefer not to test, I would recommend the following:

Watch the weather and make sure you apply your fertilizer during a stretch of days that are under 90 degrees. Fertilizer and summer heat typically do not mix.

Set your fertilizer sprayer a few notches lower than the recommended application number. The important point here is to protect yourself from overspreading and possibly burning your lawn.

Make sure you really water your fertilizer into your lawn. I like to water 20 minutes in each section. Remember watering longer for fewer days can really help your lawn in a number of ways.